Rock Climbing is the New Hit Outdoor Play For Kids

Physical activity in kids has always been crucial to combat serious conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases later in life. Not only does outdoor play benefit children physically, studies have also shown that it has positive effects on their brain development and emotional well-being.

A major study, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, showed that specifically, risky outdoor play does a lot of good to improve children’s psychological state. Researchers found that play environments where children could take risks promoted increased play time, social interactions, creativity and resilience.

These two tots are the perfect examples of kids copying their parents. When you do rock- or wall-climbing as a hobby, don’t be surprised if your kids pick it up, too, no matter how young they are.

Meet one-year-old Ellie. She learned to climb walls before she could even walk. At eight months old, her parents, Zack and Rachael Farmer, who are competitive rock climbers, found her scaling a rock wall they placed next to her crib. How could she have learned to do that at an early age? Well, from her parents, of course!

Here she is climbing when she was barely a year old and then as she grew older.

And then, here’s three-year-old Hadie. She has been tagging along with her mom Morgan Brechler, who hikes mountains and repels down rocks, since she was 18 months old. The mom-and-daughter duo is part of a documentary project called Born Wild that chronicles three moms and their love for adventure.

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Morgan chronicles their mother-and-daughter bonding time in her Instagram:

And while wall or rock climbing might be too adventurous for some, it's well within the recommended exercises for tots ages two to four.Drew Andrada, and father of four fit children, a champion bodybuilder with fifteen years of personal training on his belt, shares in an article on Smartparenting.com.ph the best exercise for kids to to get moving. "Develop some fun fitness ideas for kids. If it's not fun, they won't do it."

As always, you should seek the clearance of your child's pedaitrician and take the necessary precautions. Safety is still a priority. If you've got the basics covered, then there's nothing wrong with letting young kids explore -- even it if means climbing walls, rocks, or simply being outdoors.